Advice for starting out in the UK from scratch

[Stewart Esslemont]

Hi all,

At 30 years old I have just started to research ways of building a sustainable passive income and property investment is the one that intrigues me the most so far.

I live on the Orkney Islands in Scotland and the property market always seems to be moving and currently even more so with houses continually going for over the asking price. Two houses have been sold on my street recently which were in a livable but not great condition both went on the market for £120,000 and both have been sold for £140,000!

I have one property currently which I am living in it was bought with the Scottish Government help to buy scheme so they own 40% of the house which was initially bought for £105,000. I am 4 years into a 25-year mortgage fixed at 2.12% for another year and have ~£58,000 to go.
I have done some major renovation work include installing a wood fire burner, Air source heating, a new bathroom and general tidying.

After upgrading the bathroom in my house I am unfortunately all out of savings but usually, save £250 per monthly from wages. What I would love to know is what advice you would give for someone starting from scratch in the UK, given my circumstances.

Looking forward to hearing back from you all soon.

Stewart

[Alex Uman]

Morning @Stewart Esslemont, quite interested in hearing about REI across the pond. My mum originally hails from the UK and I am actually a dual citizen myself. Not sure what the rental market may be like on the Orkney Islands in particular but I would recommend looking into the possibility of doing a cash-out refinance and finding tenants to pay the mortgage off now that your appraised value should be higher after the work you have done to the home. To my knowledge, the islands up there are quite remote but are also quite a lovely place to live. I assume you'd be able to find some tenants if you worked at it. All the best in your investing journey! Let me know if I have REI completely wrong for the UK as I myself am only really familiar with the practices in the US.